Eight years on and no sign of a new fire station for Rathdowney

There is no sign of a new fire station in Rathdowney, despite a proposal made to the Government eight years ago in 2006.

Responding to a question in the Dail from Sean Fleming TD, Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan said there are a number of factors involved with the delay in building a new station.

“Under the 2006 Fire Service Capital Programme a proposal by Laois County Council to build a new fire station at Rathdowney was received by my Department and approval-in-principle was granted to proceed to the planning stages.”

“Given the constraints on public finances, priority has been given to the appliance fleet and further support from my Department’s Fire Services Capital Programme to proceed with a new fire station at Rathdowney will have regard to national priorities, the totality of requests from fire authorities countrywide, Laois County Council’s priorities, the extent of previous investment in Laois fire service, the value for money offered by proposals and the status of existing facilities having regard to area risk categorisation.”

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